Today I have been thinking about the message I received about Betsy, a deaf horse, now living at The Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk, you can read her story below.

Betsy

In this life, on this planet, we all have a value, a contribution, a part to play.  A spider is no more or less valuable than a King.  It is the inter connectedness of us all that is the key to a balanced and fruitful life for all.

In Betsy’s case, her deafness means she is unable to perform many of the roles which horses can be called on to do, however, her deafness enables the humans who know her to show compassion, patience and unconditional love.  Unconditional love because Betsy is perfect.  She is the very best Betsy she can be and is loved for that. So she does have a role to play, she opens hearts to give and share love.  What more could any of us do?

Reason for Sanctuary (Betsy’s Story)

Betsy is the type of animal who meets no current social criteria that would justify her continued existence. She was born deaf, which quashed any romantic thoughts of the ‘perfect equine’. She constantly requires special attention and very sympathetic handling.

Betsy just doesn’t make the grade in any way that would render her ‘usable’. In her silent world she represents the epitome of the unproductive and therefore disposable form of life. But to those of us at Hillside, Betsy is just one reason society needs places like ours – places of refuge for ‘nonperformers’ in today’s performance-based culture. Betsy, and all of the others to whom we give sanctuary from abuse, neglect and slaughter, is a mere whisper in a world roaring with the importance of things like achievement, competence and productivity.

Betsy represents the almost forgotten value of other qualities such as kindness, compassion, inherent value and community spirit. For if performance is indeed of greater importance than kindness, then there is no place in this world for animals like Betsy. The longing that so many of us feel as human beings for a more compassionate world for our children and ourselves, would sadly remain unfulfilled.

Betsy takes up so little space, yet because she cannot ‘perform’ she would be denied even that much. But in society’s denial of space, a final ‘use’ would be found for her – she would be sent to the slaughterhouse to endure all its terror, so that she can become food for the tables of Europe and create profit for corporate giants.

Betsy, and many others like her, is our only defense for our decision to provide sanctuary for all animals in need, not just choosing those, for example, that could be re-homed with new families. Efforts to rehabilitate ride-able or usable horses for instance, though often well intentioned, are too easily overshadowed by the justification of performance-based values.

Sanctuary, on the other hand, is one of those words that pricks at the collective conscience of society. It pricks at it because Betsy needs sanctuary, not from a great evil ‘out there somewhere’, but because she needs it from us, the you and me that make up society. Because such great value is put on performance, horses are in jeopardy from the moment they are born. But that should not be any great surprise, for most of us learn from an early age that our value as individuals is directly linked to whether or not we can perform, produce or be competent at something.

That is where Betsy becomes important. Though imperfect, she is a gentle being, vulnerable because of her inability to ‘perform’ or even make us ponder her fate. The decisions we make about Betsy and many others like her become the measure of who we really are as people and as a society. Our collective character is not formed by our decisions about the most beautiful, powerful or competent – it is shaped by the way we treat the weakest and neediest amongst us.

So when adults and children come to visit the animals at Hillside, we speak to them about the importance of a world where there is room for the imperfect. And as they watch Betsy snoozing in the sunshine, or ambling happily around with her companions, they are able to learn the real meaning of sanctuary, painted in the bold colours of Betsy’s living, breathing existence. And because we can provide a place of hope, healing and comfort for Betsy, then maybe, just maybe there is some hope for healing and comfort for the rest of us.